Crufts 2023 – Three Trophies and a GB Winners Parade!
What an absolutely stunning weekend experience for the RAW Agility pair, Will and Rudi!
The first class that they had qualified for was the YKC Agility Dog of the Year (Medium). This was run on Saturday in the YKC ring which was packed with spectators:
A really well handled, nippy run gave Will and Rudi first place! This gave the pair their 5th Crufts title and meant that they had completed their Crufts YKC full set of wins – ADOTY, Jumping, ABC and Pairs.
The latest win meant the team qualified for the ADOTY Grand Final held in the main arena on the same afternoon. This pitches the top 3 in all heights and all age groups into the same final. The arena was packed with over 7000 spectators (and a one hour wait to get into the main arena). Once again Will and Rudi maintained their poise to put in another faultless run:
The live TV version with expert commentary is available by clicking on the image below:
It was always going to be difficult for Rudi to match the speed of intermediate and large dogs each with great junior handlers and this meant that this super run earned the team a very creditable 6th place in the final. This was Will’s best ever finish in the ADOTY Grand Final which had large dogs taking the first 4 places.
This run was immediately followed by a very special, unique event in the main arena. The Junior Team GB, who had performed so brilliantly in the Junior Open World Agility Championships in Finland in 2022 were recognised with a victory parade in font of the full house in the main arena. After a quick change of shirt and donning his medal, Will and Rudi joined their team mates for the presentation:
The excitement of Saturday continued into the final day of Crufts when Will and Rudi joined their Team GB gold medal winning team-mates Mariann and Coral in the YKC Pairs event (ages 18-24). Will and Rudi had won this class in 2022 and were determined to do their bit to retain the title. Mariann and Coral went first to run the agility round, followed straight away by Will and Rudi running the jumping course:
The speed and accuracy of the two runs meant the pair won the class by quite a long way.
Another Crufts title was fantastic in its own right but, at the presentations, there was another result to be announced. All the heights and age groups had their results combined to find the overall pairs winners. As mentioned above, it is incredibly hard for medium dogs to compete in terms of speed with larger dogs running at the same level. However – such was the pace of this duo combined, Mariann and Will were equally surprised and delighted to be announced as the overall pairs winners!
This meant that the two days Will and Rudi had spent at Crufts had seen them make three runs with three clear rounds and three Crufts titles to take their career total to a magnificent seven!
Will & Rudi have a fantastic record when competing in the YKC ring:
Crufts Finals reached: 10
Clear Rounds: 9
One 6th place, One 3rd place, Two 2nd places, Six 1st places and one overall title.
Scroll through the pages below to see more pictures and videos of Will, Rudi and Aston competing at Crufts in previous years.
willbacchus.com 